That New York Feeling!

`Wow, did we have a great time in New York last week!  It was just a total party with Noah, Eli and Tal frantically trying to finish Noah and Kristi's new bathroom before Kristi returned from her week in Houston.  Noah did indeed accomplish the impossible and got it almost done to surprise her by the time she got home!  I hope they have some pictures of the "before" because it was pretty dismal!  They still have to install the sink and paint but other than that, it's done and beautiful!  It looks at least twice as big!  A big thanks to Tal and Eli for digging out the floor, putting in the bead board, cleaning up and installing the light (sorry about that nice big shock Tal...Eli turned the electricity back on and forgot to tell Tall Tal). Julie helped too and even Dad and I were able to help a little.  That will be a fun memory!

The Construction Crew!

I should have taken a picture of the entry stone.  No more stepping over the hole!

While the guys were at work, Kristi, Julie, McKay and I went to the Met. They had superhero exhibit that was amazing and a fabulous exhibit on the roof, where I've never been.  What a view! 

 

  Shawni and Charity, remember The Three Shades from the Rodin Museum in Paris?  

That night Josh joined us straight from the airport and we went to a new show on Broadway called Jungle Dreams!  It was a wanna be cirque de soleil but the circus acts were truly incredible.  Kind of cheesy costumes and funny story line but absolutely amazing performances!  Because we had back row seats they offered us box seats down at the front and even though part of the stage was obscured they were terrific seats!  Afterward we took a minute to take pics.  We had four of our five sons there (sorry Jonah...next time)and two fabulous daughter in laws! 

 

That night my phone slipped out of my pocket in the cab home so I'm phoneless for another day until my new purple one arrives (I collect purple things).  Pain!!!

The next day a few of us met at the Bryant Park to hear Frank Sinatra's old pianist play for an hour while we had lunch and then we went on the tram over the East River? and then we Serendipituously walked past Serendiptiy on the way back so Julie and I, who had never been there, dropped off there for a frozen hot chocolate (after an hour and a half wait) while Dad, Josh and Tal went out to take their last look at Yankee Stadium since the Yankees were playing the Mets.   Kristi was recovering from her eight days away from home and being SO pregnant we didn't think she'd want to wander all over town with McKay.

 

 

FYI:  You CAN call ahead for reservations for up to six months in advance, but somehow people don't mind waiting for an hour and a half in New York!  It's mystifying!

Well, I forgot to take pictures of Eli and Julie's cute little apartment which is very nice and in a great location.  We stayed with them to stay out of Noah and Kristi's way and had three slumber parties in a row with Dad and I in the bed and Julie and Eli on the futon in the same room.  What great sports they are! 

Amidst all that, Noah needed to be at the Today Show with his Young Men at 6 a.m. to see Cold Play.  Josh and Eli went down too and ended up being on TV which you have probably all seen by now. There is just never a dull moment in New York!

Which brings us to the sudden arrival of our adorable little Flibitygibit this morning after about 3 1/2 hours of labor. HIP HIP HOORAY!  Everything went perfectly and I can so identify with those gorilla monster BOY HOWDY pains that allow that baby to fly into the world after three pushes.  It is indescribably NO fun but SO much better than 29 hours of labor!  We can't wait to see the pictures of that little girl with chubby cheeks! 

We did our first missionary parenting fireside last night and had a good time, although most of those who came were over 70...our adorable loyal ward members.  We did have five non-members so that's a start!  They were terrific!

Wow, What a Week!

I had the great privilege of spending most of the week with the Pothiers in AZ!  I hadn't been there in a long time and I wanted to spend some time with Lucy, since we didn't get a chance to really talk at the wedding!  You wouldn't believe how much she has changed in the last month!   She is not only walking but running all over the place and jumping on the trampoline. She has just suddenly (for me at least) started saying some words, babbling and thinking she's really talking!  She dances, leads the singing, knows all the kids, offered each a drink on command and even kissed her mom over and over! 

Josh went with us to take all the kids to the Phoenix Science Museum and although all the kids had a great time, Lucy strutted around there with Elle's purse over her arm and was wild about pushing buttons and doing challenging things.  It was SO fun to watch them all in action!  

   Here are Grace and Elle having a wheelchair race!  Cute kids!!!

I also got a chance to go to Elle's book club.  They had read a book about a little girl who grew up with an autistic brother. They let them decorate their own cookies to illustrate that everyone is different and that different is good.  Great idea!

We went to watch the kids swimming one morning and then the morning I left they had a swim meet.  Josh and Shawni were taking pictures like crazy but I left my camera in the car so they're going to have to send you some of those.  Max, Elle and Grace got 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in every one of their heats. They are fabulous swimmers!

I had a chance to be with Shawni to do her first class at Domestic Bliss.  She was fabulous and I helped just a little.  She had a great group of 15 mom and did a class on Parenting Partnerships.  About a third were her cute sister in laws and a cousin. They are already terrific moms and partners but we sure had a lot of fun!  Shawni and I also had a dinner to talk about the new book we're working on. Finally after talking about it for about five years, I think we've really got a start!  Dave is giving us some good ideas too and we think we're finally off the ground! 

Next it was off to meet Grandma and Dad at the SL airport and catch a flight to San Francisco for Chris and Hedy's farewell.  It was SO fun to see all their kids again and their kids' kids.  They are all adorable and growing like weeds!

Chris and Hedy did a fabulous job on their farewell talks and all their kids sang an arrangement of "Oh My Father" that was just stunning!  Adam and Elisha sang solos dispersed throughout and I just had to drop a few tears seeing all those great grown-up kids singing together!  The Bishop and Stake President sang their praises as well!  They have added so much in their part of the world!  We know they will be terrific mission parents! 

  This is Sam and Lindsay's Lucy with Chris and Grandma

Adam and Kimberly's Nathan (2)

Elisha and Mike's Brennan  (sp?)

Sam and Lindsay's Calvin

Adam and Kimberly's Madeline

Adam and Ashley's Brookline

Cute little sister Livia with proud papa Ben

Darling newest Flannery (Sam and Lindsay)...sorry Falnnery... with older cousin Eliza (Adam and Kimberley's newest)

Joseph with Adam 

Sorry we didn't get everybody.  The parents wouldn't want to see the pics of the kids that you don't see!

The frosting on the cake was seeing little Lucymae at Kevan's on the way home. They had just a had a Father's Day dinner with Tenille who is ready to deliver at any moment but left before we got there. We did get a shot of Kevan and his new friend Karen who has flown here several times from Texas to see him. They were driving Grandma home tonight so that they could get to know each other a bit better. She seems like a great person!  Four kids...two daughters and two sons. The youngest two are exactly Howie and Aubrey's age.

Sorry Dad, you're a little distorted and this beautiful little red-headed baby is wondering if she's safe!

Ah!  Much happier!  Cute parents too! 

Karen sure seems like a nice person!  Grandma did very well to survive that crowd with flying colors!

 

We wish you all you Dad's a Happy Father's Day which is now almost over!  Dad is loving reading all the stuff that's coming in!  Thanks for remembering the greatest DAD on earth!

Halcyon Days

Dad insists that even though we have our hands full here, we are having halcyon days (def: happy; joyful; carefree).  True we have had two weeks without any big commitments so I have plunged into sorting out drawers and closets and figuring out how to move some things up to the new house without it being too disruptive to dad.  We are really having a wonderful time just sorting, moving, watching B-ball games and tennis (French Open).  Dad writes like a banshee for two hours in the morning and then starts watching. I look up once in a while from my "organizing" and enjoy filling in for Eli a bit on the sports scene since he's on to bigger and better and hotter things! 

It was so nice to have time to heal from this accident without a lot of pressure.  We did do our first speech up in Oregon on Saturday night where we had an unusually terrific group!  We flew home on Sunday, set up the neighborhood parenting series for our new calling and then did a five series little thing for Good Things Utah this morning.  Two of the interns were Joy School graduates so we had them come with us for the segment tomorrow.  We hope it gets some people thinking about Joy School for the fall, even though Angie, one of the hosts kept saying, "so get started with your Joy School this summer!"  She was trying to be helpful and I'm sure people will figure it out!

We are so thrilled to hear from the New York contingent and to know that Julie and Eli are doing splendidly in their new surroundings. It's so great that Julie is able to do some temp work and Eli seems to really be enjoying working with Noah and having Tal to hang out with on weekends, all centering at Noah and kristi's apartment!  They are just diving into remodeling their bathroom. Good luck you guys! 

Can you believe our little Sister Eyre is suddenly a Trainer!  I can!  She will be fabulous!  I know there's more to it than I know and that the responsibility is enormous, but she's going to be GREAT!  Wow, Charity, your mission president must have so much faith in you! 

We have actually had time to have dinner with friends here and there.  We are meeting the Woolleys tonight and Elder Perry and Barbara may be coming up to the house tomorrow night for dinner and a little chat.  Next Wednesday we are doing Inklings with a new, larger group that will be fun.  Anybody got any great ideas for a fun dessert for about 25?

I'm going to Gilbert on Wednesday to be with those fun Pothiers!  We've been to St. George several times since we've been to Gilbert and we'll be seeing our New York group the last week of June and our Boston the week after that when they come out for the reunion.

Speaking of reunion, looks like Jeff has a chance to go to Africa with his work which is something that just came up and he can't miss. Unfortunately it is right at the time of the reunion. Hopefully he'll be able to join us afterward to fill us in on all he's learned.  We'll get detailed dates on that soon. Hope many of your can stay for that last week of July.  We'll also be missing Julie for part of the reunion because her brother is getting married on Thursday/Friday of that week in San Diego!  She'll join us for Saturday and Sunday and then MFME but she will be sorely missed.  Eli would love to go to the wedding too but the flights are just too darn expensive so I guess he's stuck with us again!!! 

We're headed for Chris and Hedy's farewell with Grandma on Saturday, coming back on Sunday night. It will be so fun to see all their family again!  They will be wonderful mission parents! 

Only four more weeks and we'll be beginning to congregate. Halleluia!  I'm taking the cast off my hand in one more week. They told me that I'd never win a beauty contest with my crunched up hand at the hospital but it's not looking too bad!  Plus all the other scabs have fallen off and I can almost roll over in bed! 

Love ya'll,

M/L/G